The Dallas Cowboys Stadium
Jan 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By Don Rooney
Delivering an exclusive game-day experience to 80,000 spectators is no easy task.
The Cowboys’ new control room facility relies on Evertz for the core systems such as sync generation, routing, distribution, conversion and multi-image displays. Shown here is the main control room.
With 16 HD cameras and thousands of HD displays, spectators at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium can enjoy a live, up-close and exclusive look at game-day activities such as tailgating and behind-the-scenes views of players and cheerleaders, as well as a sense of the overall festivities that permeate the largest domed stadium in the world. What spectators can't see, however, are the three sleek HD production control rooms and the central equipment room that drive the system and feed video signals to the HD screens and more than 3000 HD displays that make the authentic game day experience possible.
Burst, a Denver-based systems integrator, provided the detailed design, systems integration and project management for the production control rooms at this $1.1 billion stadium, which launched in June 2009.
Bigger is better in Texas
Everything is bigger in Texas, and the new 3,000,000sq-ft Dallas Cowboys stadium, which seats up to 100,000 spectators, is no exception. The stadium embraces cutting-edge technology with a state-of-the-art production system that supports live broadcasts, production and post production in HDTV, and an in-house multichannel HD IPTV cable system for targeted advertising throughout the venue. In addition to the main control room, the facility has two auxiliary control rooms, a rack room with 35 8ft equipment racks and an owner's perch with eight dedicated replay devices.
Burst worked with Dwin Towell, director of broadcast engineering services for the Dallas Cowboys, and Chris Williams, principal at WJHW consulting, to design a 1080i facility flexible enough to support a wide variety of events — from taping a simple conference in one of the stadium's meeting rooms to broadcasting the Super Bowl. In other words, they needed a complex broadcast facility that would also meet the ever-changing needs of the stadium.
Challenges and innovations
Building a television production control room and supporting infrastructure in a massive facility that is under construction presents a variety of challenges and requires significant coordination and cooperation between interrelated trades and the general contractor. When multiple subcontractors are sharing a common overhead cable tray, a high level of cooperation and respect for each other's work is required. Fortunately, there was a great spirit of cooperation throughout this project.
Shown here is the rear view of the patch panel racks and audio router. Two Evertz Xenon audio frames are integrated with a MADI/TDM interface that allows seamless A/D and D/A audio conversion within the router.
Due to the large video displays hanging from the center of the stadium, a secondary, reverse-angle show is produced so that the viewers across from the main production can see the action on the big screen in the same direction as that on the field. This was accomplished by placing additional cameras on the reverse side and the addition of Fast Forward Video's Omega HD devices, resulting in six more video replay channels. The additional cameras, replay devices and graphics are controlled in one of the two secondary control rooms. A Sony MKS-9011A control panel uses the third M/E bus in the Sony MVS-8000G switcher. This allows control of this M/E from either control panel.
The size of the center hung screens can support the use of quad-split replays to show four different camera angles of a single play. This quad image may get lost on smaller screens. During each game, there are up to four unique quad-split images available to the production crew.
During a football game, numerous router destinations must be controlled and switched simultaneously. Typically, this includes eight Daktronics video displays in the outdoor plaza areas, as well as two unique feeds to the in-house IPTV distribution system. This was accomplished with a single-button push that controls SALVOS, which was created via the versatile Evertz EQX server system.
Equipment selection
The Cowboys' new control room facility relies on Evertz for the core systems such as sync generation, routing, distribution, conversion and multi-image displays. The routing fabric consists of an Evertz EQX 288 × 288 HD-SDI frame currently populated as 144 × 144, as well as two Evertz Xenon frames with a capacity for 256 × 256 currently populated with 32 × 32 analog audio and 160 × 160 AES audio. These two audio frames are integrated with a MADI/TDM interface that allows seamless A/D and D/A audio conversion within the router. With a mix of analog and AES signals in the stadium, this is a critical part of the system's flexibility.
This control room employs dual camera shading positions for 16 stadium cameras, a Riedel Artist intercom and triax patch panels.
There is also a 64-port data router for managing RS422 control between the various VTRs, servers, switchers and control panels. This routing system is managed by the EQX server that provides an easy-to-use, intuitive user interface.
From the outset of the project, it was decided to create a 1080i facility along with discreet analog and AES audio. This meant that every signal entering the rack room must be native 1080i or be converted as soon as it enters the room. Utility devices such as IRDs, DVCAM, VHS and DVD players are converted to 1080i SDI video and discreet AES audio as the signals leave the device. This conversion is handled by AJA FS1 frame-sync/upconverters. Other signals entering the room, such as the fiber feeds from the truck dock, pass through Evertz 7812UDX upconverter/frame sync cards before they hit the routing switcher. There are an additional five FS1 units used as utility up/downconverters and frame synchronizers.
The main control room is centered on a Sony MVS-8000G HD switcher with 68 inputs and 48 outputs, and two DME frames. The Sony control panel can directly control 13 router destinations through the use of an Evertz 7700R-BRC-SC protocol translator. This interface also allows for the router mnemonics to flow into the Sony control panel. The three control room switchers, the routers and VIP multi-image displays are tied together via Image Video's tally interface for both tally control and UMD data.
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